BANDOOK KITCHEN
Sarah Moolla discovers the Mint Room’s little sister restaurant has arrived with all guns, and all flavours, blazing
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e’re going for an Indian. It’s so commonplace an activity now that it doesn’t elicit the thrill it once did. Maybe thanks to over exposure we’ve become slightly immune to the charms of a decent dhansak, a kick-ass korma, or a terrific tikka. And as a new Indian restaurant, to get yourself heard above the madras hubhub of Bath’s many decent curry houses, is going to take confidence, charm, and damn fine cuisine. Bandook Kitchen has all of this in tiffin loads. It helps of course that this is the rebellious, pretty little sister of the gastronomically grown-up The Mint Room, co-owned by Moe Rahman, and has been shaped and formed and perfected by a four year presence in Wapping Wharf on Bristol’s harbourside. This new little piece of Indian arrived in the basement of the very Georgian Milsom Place back in November 2019 and was settling in very nicely until the pandemic stopped play. Bandook, which translates as a gun in Hindi/
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Urdu and was adopted into the vocabulary of the British troops, has a nod to the Raj in the form of green leather banquette seating, heavy wood panelling, and evocative black and white photographs from that era. But at the heart of the place is the warm, vibrant, and welcoming flavours of good Indian cuisine, embracing the easygoing influences of the street food vendors of Mumbai. We’re sat outside as when we visit restrictions are still in place but the extensive courtyard, tall heaters, and threewalled undercover canopy not only does the job of keeping us cosy and content, but also complements the roadside café style of the food. First up is the pani puri – crisp fried semolina balls stuffed with chutney, chickpeas, coriander, green chilli and ginger and served with little bottles of jal jeera water, a kind of cumin lemonade, which you pour into the shells and then stuff into your mouth in one go – at least that was what the waiter told us. She, Moe, and chef Muraliraj may have been having a laugh at our expense as cheeks puffed and eyes popping, we chomp our way through